2021 Examination Appeals Process
2021 Examination Appeals Process.
This page provides you with information regarding the awarding of GCSE and GCE grades this summer 2021 and any subsequent appeals.
Grades have been awarded summer 2021 following both internal and external quality assurance measures.
We anticipate that appeals will apply to very few, if any, students.
1. How were student grades arrived at summer 2021?
Grades are based on Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs).
CAGs were submitted to the exam boards on Friday 18th June following a rigorous process of assessment, moderation and quality assurance with the school and within the trust.
These grades were then approved by the relevant examination boards, following their own external quality assurance checks, in July 2021.
2. What do I do if I’m not happy with my grade / my daughter’s grade?
Results are published on Tuesday 10th August 2021 for Advanced level examinations and Thursday 12th August 2021 for GCSE pupils. A letter has already been forwarded by Mr. McDonagh (Deputy Headteacher) explaining the process for collection of results.
It is important for parents/carers and students to understand that any appeal may result in a grade being lowered, staying the same or being raised.
There is also the option to resit GCSE’s, A levels and some AS levels in the Autumn. This may be the preferable option to some students. The design, content and assessment of these papers will be the same as in usual examination years.
3. What are the grounds for a possible appeal?
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) has indicated the grounds for appeal:
- you think the academy has made an administrative error putting the wrong information into a spreadsheet;
- you think the academy made a procedural error you believe we haven’t properly followed our own process/policy (our policy was approved by the JCQ April 2021);
- you think the academic judgement on the selection of evidence was unreasonable: you think the evidence used to grade you was not reasonable;
- or you think the academic judgement on the grade you were given was unreasonable.
4. What does ‘unreasonable’ mean?
‘Unreasonable’ is a technical term in this context. It means that no educational professional acting reasonably could have selected the same evidence or come up with the same grade.
This means that just because other forms of evidence may have been equally valid to use, the selection of evidence is not unreasonable. Because of the flexibility of the approach this year, every school and college will have used different forms of evidence.
It also means that the independent reviewers will not remark or grade students’ evidence. Instead, they will look to see whether any teacher acting reasonably could have arrived at the same grade.
5. What will be the outcome of an appeal?
The two stages of an appeal are explained in ‘What are the two stages of an appeal?’ (see below).
At either stage of the appeals process a student grade may go up, stay the stay, or go down. When placing an appeal the student will have to sign a declaration saying that they accept the fact their grade may go down and they may get a lower grade than their original grade.
6. What’s a priority appeal?
Priority appeals will be handled more quickly than other appeals, where possible before the UCAS advisory deadline of 8th September 2021.
Priory appeals are only open to A level students who are starting university this autumn and who have missed out on the conditions of their firm, or insurance, offer.
If you decided not to confirm a firm conditional offer and to go through clearing instead then JCQ cannot offer you a priority appeal.
JCQ cannot offer priority appeals for GCSE students.
When making a priority appeal, students will have to include their UCAS number so it can be confirmed that it is a genuine priority appeal.
7. What should I do if I don’t get into my first choice of university?
Speak to sixth form staff about your options. There will be staff on standby to support you. Our team can be reached by e-mail enquiries@st-anthonys-academy.com F.A.O. Sixth Form Staff: University Entrance or by phoning the school office. You may wish to go through clearing, sit the autumn exams or summer examinations next year to try to improve your grade.
If you are going to appeal your grade, you must let your university know that you are appealing. They will then let you know whether they will hold a place for you pending the outcome of an appeal. Please note that universities are not obliged to hold a place for you; this is at their discretion.
8. What should I do before submitting an appeal?
Students must read the JCQ Student and Parent guide before appealing, which will be available on the JCQ website on publication of results day.
We may not be able to offer as much advice and guidance on the likely success of an appeal this summer, as we would in normal years, as we have already moderated and quality assured all the grades.
9. What are the two stages of an appeal?
All appeals, on any of the grounds in section 3 must first go through a centre review. At this stage, the academy will check for any administrative errors and also check that our policies and procedures were followed correctly. Our policy has already been approved by the exam boards.
The outcome of the centre review will be communicated to students when made.
At the centre review stage, if we find that a grade should go up or down, we will then ask the exam board to change it. They will then consider this request.
Following the outcome of a centre review, students may still choose to pursue an awarding organisation appeal. The academy will then send the stage two appeal on their behalf to the examination board. Please note, students and parents cannot send appeals directly to the exam board themselves.
The outcome of the awarding organisation appeal will be communicated to students by the academy.
10. How do I make an appeal?
Following publication of results day, students should fill in the first section of the JCQ form JCQ_Appeals-Guidance_Summer-2021_Appendix-B and send it to this email address enquiries@st-anthonys-academy.com F.A.O. The Examination Officer: Examination Appeal.
Following the outcome of a centre review, students may still choose to pursue an awarding organisation appeal. They must fill in the stage two section of the the returned JCQ Appeals Form and send it to this email address enquiries@st-anthonys-academy.com F.A.O. The Examination Officer: Examination Appeal.
The academy will then send on their behalf to the examination board. Please note, students and parents cannot send appeals directly to the exam board themselves.
The outcome of the awarding organisation appeal will be communicated to students by the academy.
11. What are the deadlines for priority appeals?
The deadline for requesting a priority appeal is 16th August 2021.
We will attempt to complete the centre review by 20th August 2021*. If students then wish to proceed to an awarding organisation appeal, they must send the completed form to us by 23rd August 2021 for all priority appeals.
*At both stages of the appeals process, there may be the need for specialist, expert knowledge e.g. subject teachers. This may not be possible during August. In such cases, we may have to wait until the start of term in September, but priority appeals will still be treated as a priority.
12. What are the deadlines for non-priority appeals?
Non-priority appeals are any A levels, GCSEs or vocational qualification appeals where a firm or insurance university place is not pending.
The deadline for submitting a centre review is 3rd September 2021; and the deadline for submitting an awarding organisation appeal is 10th September 2021.
Appeals received after these dates may still be considered.
13. What if the academy knows that I have not met my university conditional offer before results publication day?
We are forbidden from disclosing the Centre Assessed Grades to any third party, including students and parents, until publication of results day. Any teacher or member of staff who does this is committing exam malpractice.
We do hope that this provides you with the relevant information you may require regarding this process.